Who's Comng To The Northeast Squeeze-in?

[bellowbelle]

Alas!   My daughter broke her glasses this weekend, and my son got a stray bill for last semester's books, due Friday, and now I can't afford the Squeeze-In! It's too long a drive for one day, so I'll have to start slipping bills under the mattress for next year.

 

I'll miss you guys!

 

   

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

is right. Terrible!

 

 

 

I have modified my plans, too. There are too many delicate balances here on 'the farm' for me to take a 2-day vacation and come home expecting things to be satisfactory.

 

So....I plan to show up a bit before the concert, go to the concert and the fun afterwards, camp in my car, then leave early on Sunday to visit my daughter, then head home to take my new bunny rabbit outside to play and all that.

[Mark Evans]

Allison, I fear you've started a trend. I discussed weekend plans with my brood last night and got nothing but long faces. Daddy will not get out of Milford would be my guess .

 

That's okay, because when I'm very old and out of my mind I'll pay them back .

 

Odd, they don't look like evil trolls, but they are.

Edited September 13, 2005 by Mark Evans

[BruceB]

My plans are hanging by a thread too. My son is not feeling well, he's getting terrible headaches when he attempts to exercise (he lifts weights). He has other serious health problems and if he doesn't exercise it causes a downward spiral. Hopefully, he'll be better by Friday.

 

bruce boysen

[David Barnert]

Odd, they don't look like evil trolls, but they are.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

They look like they can take care of themselves.

 

A pediatric surgeon I used to work with (I'm an anesthesiologist, hence the sig) used to define "child" as: Psychotic dwarf with a good prognosis.

[bigsqueezergeezer]

Oh I get it now! I always thought you were and Air conditioning engineer!

 

Derek

[Mark Evans]

They look like they can take care of themselves.

 

right]

 

Yes they do don't they.

[bellowbelle]

Well, here it is Saturday at 12:21 (I always get those palindromes....huh...now, spell 'huh' backwards.... ) and I am still at home.

 

I did plan on being late, but, now I'm not sure that I'll even get there!

[Mark Evans]

Well, I hope you made it Wendy. My middle boy gave me the news this morning that he has a school dance this evening. Instead of making a little trip west I've cleaned the house, done the laundry and decorated the front porch for Fall.....and played the beegeezuz out of the 'tina. All in all, not a bad day.

Edited September 17, 2005 by Mark Evans

[bellowbelle]

Well, I hope you made it Wendy.  My middle boy gave me the news this morning that he has a school dance this evening.  Instead of making a little trip west I've cleaned the house, done the laundry and decorated the front porch for Fall.....and played the beegeezuz out of the 'tina.  All in all, not a bad day.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well, you outdid me. I managed to clean up the rabbit cage (I have a new baby, a bunny), but that's about it, outside of the dog-walking and some other basics. I did post a journal entry to prove that I am still here!

[Animaterra]

Well, I've been thinking of everybody there. Yesterday I had a date with someone for the first time, andwhen he came to pick me up he recognized my daughter's PA (and surprised me by bashing through Chorus Jig and Five Foot Two) but didn't know what a concertina was.

 

I hope it hasn't been too soggy, and wish everybody well.

[David Barnert]

Well, it turned out not too rainy, although the sun only came out briefly. Everybody who didn't make it was missed. Britt came by on Saturday and so did Bruce B, although he had to leave after just a few hours.

 

I had decided days earlier to not lead any workshops this year (for the first time in years). I usually used to do the Morris Tunes workshop, and I was happy to see that Peter Hoover, who was there for the first time in years, had volunteered to do a Morris Tunes workshop. Toward the end of the day Saturday, I was prevailed upon to help someone with how to choose chords for a given tune. And could someone else come along? It wound up being 5 or 6 people, but I was happy to do it.

 

edited to add: Yes, the WiFi hookup is still working. The absence of posts from any of us from the event must say something about how little time anyone spent doing anything other than playing.

Edited September 19, 2005 by David Barnert

[Perry Werner]

Howdy:

Just to add a note on Dave's previous posting in addition to some other kudos.

 

I was one of the 5 or 6 people who came along (actually I was already there) for Dave's "mini" workshop on chord usage in tunes.

 

It was a good refresher for us (me) with a serious music background. I think repetition of valuable material is never a waste of time and I am hopeful that the "beginner's" who were present, learned something. I think they did. I know I did.

 

Thanks again Dave and special thanks to Ken Sweeney for running 3 excellent, informative and inspiring workshops which i attended. Also to Peter Hoover for the Morris workshop and to my next town neighbor, Dave Cornell, who I got to meet for the first time, for his amazing performances, excellent muscianship and very kind words about my own somewhat fledgling playing and first attempts at public vocalizing. A real honor to have been complimented by such a wonderful singer himself and to find out what a McCann Can Do!!!!!

 

Great to see a few "old" new friends (especially Doug, Howie, Robin and Bob) and even greater to be so inspired to work even harder while adding joy to the pursuit of playing. Thanks to those inspirees.

 

And if you have'nt been to one of these yet, one all-nighter/early-morninger at the sing-along will convince you that you have to get involved in this thing every year. Both very much fun and talent filled. I have'nt had that much fun in a long time. Lots of good healthy, belly laughs, especially as the subject matter of the performed material degraded to the lowest common denominator, as I somehow expected it to! Only wish I DID NOT decide to cut back on beer consumption that night. I think it would have made it even more enjoyable.

 

A wonderful time in a beautful location with great performing both at and away from the Saturday night concert. Thank goodness the rain did not hang around for the whole shebang.

 

AND of course thanks as always to the fine Button Box folks for having the strength to put this thing together.

This was my second Squeeze-in and I already look forward to my third.

 

Have fun,

Perry Werner

Edited September 19, 2005 by Perry Werner

[Richard Morse]

I had a great time as well - but I guess that's to be expected by now - even though the aftereffects are getting tougher to deal with (I don't seem to be able to rebound as well after late-night partying!).

 

I'll adjust our NESI page into a post event thing soon as I can, and put up a spot about it.... unless someone would like to volunteer to do a short review of it? I'll help with photos and formatting! Volunteers anyone?

 

Probably the biggest news about the weekend was the shocker that we WON'T be able to hold NESI there the same weeked for next year. A newbie at Bucksteep screwed up and reserved away our weekend to a wedding party! So our options are next Labor Day Weekend or the last weekend in October....

 

A show of hands during the concert appears that only about 70 people would be able to do LDW (late October really is a tad cold in the top of the Bershires). OTOH, how many people that couldn't previously do our traditional might be able to do LDW? There's also the possibility of extending NESI into Monday as well which I know would please quite a few.

 

Maybe we could have the dance on Saturday night and the concert for Sunday night? That would leave more time for each AND more time for jamming and whatnots afterwards. That would also mean that the concert would happen after two full days of workshops which would give folks a lot more time to polish up stuff from workshops to present.

 

Having a more spread out event would also give everyone more time to socialize and network, learn and solidify stuff, catch up on sleep.... As it is, things sometime feel frenetic - between my BBox duties and workshops, the largest uninterrupted time for talking with anyone seems to be during the meals!

 

If we do go with Labor Day we'll have the 3 day option but would have to see if it's really feasible. We currently rent the entire facilities - and fill it, which is great. But if we can't fill it, we still pay for the entire thing.... The thought of having a wedding or bar mitzvah or family reunion, or whatever going on the same time as us is NOT very appealing....

 

The BBox is having a NESI aftermath meeting this Thursday to discuss the "when" issue amongst other stuff and I'll bring up any thoughts anyone has here about this past event or next years. Please comment away here or e-mail me privately!

 

-- Rich --

[BruceB]

LDW is fine with me, better than late October. October is ok too if that works out better. I'm really hoping to come up for the entire weekend next year.

So, anyone want to say something about the weekend? How was the Saturday concert?

bruce boysen

Edited September 20, 2005 by BruceB

[Perry Werner]

Howdy again:

Just got back from Kodak my photos of the NESI 2005 sing-along I mentioned earlier.

Told you you should have been there!!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Have fun,

Perry Werner

Edited September 19, 2005 by Perry Werner

[David Barnert]

Just to add a note on Dave's previous posting in addition to some other kudos...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Thanks, Perry, for the kind words.

 

At one point during the weekend, someone asked me why I keep coming back, as there seems to be nothing else I need to learn (!). I know from his comments the rest of the weekend that he wasn't being facetious. I learned a great deal. A neat crooked tune from a young lady who (unfortunately) did not remember what it was called, some valuable hints about singing at Ken Sweeney's workshop (both from Ken and from David Cornell), and a little bit about how to go about (and how not to go about) teaching elementary music theory.

 

Meanwhile, back in the operating room today, I'm telling one of my colleagues how I spent my weekend (I should know better by now, considering I once wrote a talking blues that I performed at Pinewoods Early Music Week about how difficult it is to explain to the guys at work what I do on my summer vacation). So he asks "What do you learn in the workshops? Different playing techniques? How many techniques can there be? It's just pushing buttons."

 

So the whole time, I'm thinking "When you go to an Anesthesiology conference and people ask you if all you learn there is new techniques for putting people to sleep and waking them up, you probably think they're pretty ignorant..." but of course, I didn't say any of it. I just described the variety of workshop subjects, everything from exploring tunes from unfamiliar places to discussing innovations in instrument building, etc.

 

I am of several minds about the choice between Labor Day Weekend and late October for next year's NESI. I could probably make either one. I'd hate to lose all the folks who would go to the Toronto Morris Ale or the French Canadian Accordion event (the name of which I will not try to spell, although it starts with "Mont...") both of which are Labor Day weekend. I have often camped at Ashokan the last weekend in October and not found it too cold. The extra hour of sleep Saturday night as Daylight Savings Time ends would be attractive, although by next year, DST might end in November. The extra day gained by having it Labor Day Weekend is also attractive, and I would certainly pay extra to have a third day there. I would guess that the event would have no trouble filling that weekend, although it would be a lot of new people, and a lot of regulars missing. So it goes.

[lildogturpy]

I had a great time at NESI this year. A little different from last year but just as much fun and maybe a bit more educational for me anyway.

 

I had the impression that there were more workshops this year than last year but that may not agree with reality (there's that singing session again Perry btw I don't remember Dave B playing the accordion at the singing session and I'm sure I would have noticed if he had all that hair and who's the guy he's sitting next to? )

 

Ken Sweeny's playing by ear got me thinking about how to recognize tune parts more quickly and I learned a lot from his singing with concertina workshop. I find that it takes several weeks, if not months, for the stuff I pick up in the workshops to filter through into practice. Gives me lots to think about. One thing I came away with this time was an appreciation for the thought process and effort that can go into preparing the performance of a single tune or song. I spent the trip back in the car trying to get my face mask to resonate while singing as Ken had described in the singing session

 

Matt's slipjig workshop was fun, especially the image of melting sheep in the Scottish Highlands.

 

The performers at the concert this year were excellent as always although the lack of a raised stage meant that the first few performers who sat on a chair were invisible to most of the audience and speaking as one of the performers, sitting on the table with one foot on the bench was not the best position for playing the concertina although not too bad under the circumstances. The fact that I got lost in a couple of places in my first piece had nothing to do with the setup but was a result of me thinking about the second tune before I got there. I must confess, at least half the audience had kittens at the idea of Rachel sitting on a chair perched on top of the table.

 

I didn't stay for the Contra-dance but hopped over to the main building for the singing and boy what a treat to hear Tony and Dave. I loved Dave's songs - There aren't real folk in the folk clubs anymore and The last person in the world who can add. I must say that Perry really has a good singing voice. I'll also not soon forget the phrase - Is there any news of the Iceberg?

 

The food was exellent, as it had been last year. The catering staff do a great job, even down to the chips, guacamole, salsa and M & Ms laid out for the last evening.

 

I can't really vote for the Labor Day weekend, or the end of October next year as I will probably be in Glasgow for most of next year but I hope that what ever happens, things run smoothly.

Edited September 20, 2005 by lildogturpy

[Radioboy]

I had a great time as usual and would go again in Oct or the Labor Day Weekend though I would prefer LDW. howie